FanPost

Is there anyone on Minnesota's roster of interest?

With the Jordan Hamilton signing of a guaranteed contract, there has been much speculation of an upcoming Masai Ujiri move. Some have theorized that maybe we are getting in on the Love-Wiggins deal. While this is a possibility, this would be contingent on Minnesota being willing to forgo Andrew Wiggins huge T-Mac level upside to go with a already developed All-Star like Demar Derozan. Possible? Yes. Likely? I would say not. With the potential Thaddeus Young for Anthony Bennett and Barea deal that has been discussed, this would give them a core of Rubio, DD, Young and Pekovic. Not sure that is a better roster than the past few years with Kevin Love, and he didn't get them into the playoffs even once.

Either way, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to look at the rest of the roster and see if there might be any pieces of interest to us. Kevin Martin and J.J. Barea are players who likely will be moved because of their contracts, and while I think we would take either on as a means of getting Wiggins, I will not discuss them. Nikola Pekovic, Zach Lavine, and Ricky Rubio are not going to be coming to Toronto, they are bad fits or we will not be willing to pay the price.

Looking over their roster, a few names pop out, some on multi-year deals:

  • Corey Brewer- 2 years, 9.6 million (PO for 2nd year)
  • Chase Budinger- 2 years, 10 million (PO for 2nd year)
  • Luc Mbah A Moute- 1 year, 4.4 million

Brewer is overpaid and redundant with James Johnson and now Jordan Hamilton. Johnson was a better defensive and offensive player last year than him. Budinger is the most interesting of the 3, although Mbah A Moute might be worth a flyer. However, he was not so productive the past few years after starting his career as a solid rotational player- I am not sure he is an upgrade over Fields. Looking deeper into Budinger's numbers, he looks like a lesser version of Terrance Ross who mainly plays SF. Ross had a higher 3pt% last year, and his WS and Drtg were both as high or higher than Budinger's has ever been (he was better his first 3 years than the past 2). And Budinger hasn't stayed healthy a whole season in a few years. Would I take him for free? Yes. But I wouldn't give up much to get him.

That is my conclusion. What about you guys?